Greeley Unexpected campaign kicks off with downtown party

Madisan Murphy, 3, reaches for soap bubbles as Crystal Fox lifts her into the air during the Greeley Unexpected launch party Friday night on the 9th Street Plaza in downtown Greeley. The Moses Jones Band performed during the launch party.

The new Greeley Unexpected Billboard peeks through the leaves of a tree along 8th Avenue between 9th Street and 10th Street in Greeley. The debut of the new billboard comes along with the Greeley Unexpected kickoff at the Friday Fest in downtown.

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Joyce Montoya Garcia has lived in Greeley since 1963 and has seen its changes and growth through the years. Sitting a few feet away but close enough to stand and be in front of the dance floor, she danced to the music from the Moses Jones Band — the feature performance for Greeley’s party.

Montoya Garcia said the efforts from the Greeley Unexpected image campaign are working to fix the negative view many had of the city in previous years.

“I think it is fabulous. I think they are really trying hard to revive the downtown area,” she said.

The image campaign that launched last year hosted its 2014 kickoff party Friday night on Greeley’s downtown 9th Street Plaza. A free concert helped to draw more than 3,000 people. There was also a performance painting by local artist Armando Silva and fire juggling by local street performer Amazing Dylan. Free giveaways such as popcorn, face painting and plastic gift bags that included a magazine that’s part of the campaign.

John Pantaleo, Greeley’s public information officer, said last year’s campaign brought with it many good results from community members and residents of surrounding areas.

“We did a survey in Greeley, Fort Collins, the Denver metro area, and Colorado Springs to gauge last year’s campaign impact and 35 percent of people who saw the campaign materials said that their opinion of Greeley improved,” Pantaleo said. “And the other cool thing that happened last year was that we fulfilled the other objective in which we get people to learn something new and interesting about the community and get them to spread the word, and over 35 percent of the people who saw the campaign materials learned something good about Greeley.”

Last year, the campaign cost the city $260,000, and this year the city is spending $350,000 to add more TV promotions, create mailers to send to every household in Greeley inviting residents to events such as Friday’s event and to give them more information about the community and create professional videos that tell stories. Those will be shared on the campaign’s YouTube channel.

Like last year, eight stories of Greeley people are being featured. Stories such as Ron and Linde Thompson, owners of the Kress Cinema and Lounge or Glen Cortese, who has been the music director of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra since 2007.

The campaign runs from the end of May through October and at the end of the campaign, results will be evaluated to see what can be modified for the following years so the campaign can resonate with the community and have people believing Greeley is a great place.

Friday night, downtown Greeley swarmed with people like a sweet piece of candy that attracts thousands of ants. The restaurants on the 9th Street Plaza were packed with customers.

“This whole kickoff is another way to get the community to say ‘Oh yeah, I can come down here on Friday nights again,’ and we do this every Friday night, but this is one of the big nights, and it is just great to see the community rally behind the Greeley Unexpected campaign and everything that it means,” said Pam Bricker, executive director of Greeley’s Downtown Development Authority.

Bricker said trying to put a label on what Greeley was all about was difficult, at first, during focus group discussions,

“It was hard to find what defines Greeley because we are such a diverse community and we have so much to offer, and we want people to know that and the two things I kept hearing over and over were the great people that makes things happen and the surprise people get when they come to Greeley. They realize we have so much to offer,” she said.

The event also had a chalk board where attendees wrote what they love most about Greeley. For Montoya Garcia, she said she loves that the city is small enough to get to where she needs to go without wasting too much time.

“I love that it only takes me 15 minutes to get across town where as in bigger cities it can take more than 40 minutes. Isn’t that crazy? Only 15 minutes,” she said.